Lily
by Writer Gurl NZ
Summary: A somewhat serious story about Lily's struggle with a friends secret, James' struggle with a badge and their joint struggle with mixed feelings.
1. The Girl Who Cried Werewolf

Chapter One - The Girl Who Cried Werewolf  
  
She crept slowly and carefully down the dark hall, occasionally brushing a curl from her face. Lily Evans wasn't a Prefect for nothing; she knew something was up, the way they had been talking, huddled in the corner, whispering furiously about the Whomping Willow and tonight, how it had to happen tonight. They never talked seriously. What a fluke, what a grand piece of luck, that she had been practicing the Invisibility Charm at that moment, just a few feet from them, when the common room had suddenly gone quiet and she overheard Sirius -  
  
'It has to be tonight. We might never get another chance, James- '  
  
James ran a hand through unruly dark hair, an uncharacteristic frown on his face. 'It doesn't feel right, it's too soon, and we've only had a few months as ana-'  
  
The rest had been lost as the noise in the common room had picked up and Lily quickly stepped into the relative shadow of the portrait hole as her charm flickered out. It only ever lasted for less than a minute at a time.  
  
So, that was the reason she crept through the halls of Hogwarts, trying to make as little noise as possible. It wouldn't be a disaster if she met Filch, she could fob him off with some excuse about a younger Gryffindorian having forgotten a book and begging Lily to fetch it, it was just, Lily didn't want to be caught by Sirius, James or Peter. Remus, of course, was absent, something about his mother being ill again.  
  
What really intrigued her was what James had been saying before he had been cut off. Could he possible mean . not anamagi? A chill ran down her spine at the thought . The trouble they could get into, unregistered anamagi running around. But she shook the thought off, there was no way they could handle such a complicated spell.  
  
She reached a small side door leading out onto the grounds. To the side lay a tranquil fish pond and glancing at it her reflection beamed up at her in the bright light of the full-moon. Auburn curls, glinting green eyes and a petite pale face with the usual serious look glared at her and for a moment she stared at it, before continuing on towards the Whomping Willow, staying in the shadow of the school walls.  
  
She knew she had beat Sirius, James and Peter outside; she had waited in the common room till just before midnight, when they had reluctantly headed up to their dormitory, then waited another hour before creeping off to her hiding spot, about fifty metres from the Willow, with a view of all exits from the castle. It came as a huge shock to her, then, when the three boys suddenly appeared at the base of the Whomping Willow.  
  
How was it possible? She asked herself. Was there a passage from their dormitory? Impossible, Dippet would never have allowed it. Could they make themselves invisible? Her questions were answered as she watched James rolled a cloak up in his arms as he, Sirius and Peter began talking again. And invisibility cloak! She gasped in surprise, and was grateful she was out of hearing. But that still didn't explain what they were doing at one in the morning outside the Whomping Willow with an invisibility cloak. She was even more mystified, however, when another figure stalked from out the side door Lily herself had used and she recognised it instantly as Severus Snape, fellow sixth year and Prefect, but also, Slytherin. Her eyes narrowed as he crossed the grounds and she realised she needed to be within hearing if he was going to talk have a chat with James, Sirius and Peter. Pulling out her wand she pointed it at herself.  
  
'Invisicindeo.' She hissed and immediately a cold shivery feeling came over her. She jumped up, praying the charm would hold and raced as noiselessly as possible to a small bush sitting only a few metres from the boys. She ducked down as she flickered back into sight, safe from notice. Silently thanking Professor Dumbledore, Charms teacher, who had praised her on mastering a charm only a few seventh years had ever managed. She could now hear everything Sirius and James were saying. Peter was saying nothing, only glancing nervously around.  
  
'We can do nothing, James, sure, but we sure will look like idiots when Snape asks what we're up to.' Sirius was staring intently at James.  
  
'Better that then having the whole thing turn into a complete disaster. Peter, are you sure you closed the trapdoor properly?' James asked, turning to Peter. His tall frame seemed tensed, once again Lily could see his face, Sirius and Peter had their backs to her, creased into a frown.  
  
'Y-yes.' Peter stammered, seeming anything but sure.  
  
Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing. Trapdoor? That meant there was a passage. James willing to look like an idiot in front of Snape .  
  
The three boys turned as Snape walked up to them, James tucking the invisibility cloak out of sight.  
  
'Well, well, what do we have here? Doesn't look like the school rules are being quite adhered to, wouldn't you say so?' He sneered.  
  
Lily wrinkled her nose, she didn't mind Snape, in fact she almost pitied him for the amount of trouble James and Sirius gave him, but she detested the thought of anyone abusing their power as prefects.  
  
James and Sirius faces turned into pictures of disgust, jaws set and fists clenched. Peter looked terrified, though Lily couldn't imagine why, though Severus was top of Potions and pretty quick with his wand, James and Sirius were also skilled wizards.  
  
'Actually, I would disagree.' James said. His polite words had a steely edge Lily herself had never heard before. 'And, being a Prefect myself, I don't think you should concern yourself with business that has nothing to do with you.'  
  
'Hmmm, I'm not sure. Perhaps Professor Pentium would be interested to hear you story explaining what you are doing out here at almost two in the morning.'  
  
Once again, Lily wrinkled her nose; Pentium was a thoroughly disliked Professor of Dark Arts and Slytherin Head of House.  
  
CRASH!  
  
The loud noise coming from the Entrance Hall startled the group and they all turned their heads towards it. Lily suppressed a gasp.  
  
Without hesitating, Severus strode off towards the castle, probably expecting everybody else to follow him. Of course, they didn't. Peter went a few steps, and then looked back to James and Sirius, who had now turned to the Whomping Willow.  
  
'Peeves.' Sirius said with a chuckle. 'Once again, we owe him.'  
  
They walked around the Whomping Willow, so they were out of Lily's sight. They were quiet, sombre and she was mystified, usually these were the two loudest, happy-go-luckiest boys in the school. Another figure, this one crouched and half hidden in the shadow appeared at the foot of the Willow and Lily stared, utterly confused until it dawned on her, this was where the passage was. She had no time to dwell on it though, as the figure stretched and she realised it wasn't human, but an over-sized dog. Her heart starting beating furiously as it turned towards her, and staring into a pair of wild eyes she scrambled back from the bush letting out a terrified cry. She had paid enough attention in Care of Magical Creatures to know what creature in front of her was.  
  
It bounded towards her, eyes rolling, teeth glinting and saliva dripping madly. She had enough sense to whip her wand out and say the only curse she could think of.  
  
'Reducto!'  
  
A shot of green light rocketed towards the werewolf and it stopped momentarily. However, and this fact made Lily cringe plenty afterwards, she had used a spell made for the destruction of objects, not living beings and within seconds the werewolf was moving again. As it came nearer, Lily could smell the ravenous hunger in it and she whimpered, dropping her wand and trying to scrabble backwards more. It moved in and stretched out over her to take her neck in its jaws -  
  
Suddenly a black figure came racing in from the side, bowling into the werewolf and knocking it off her. She recognised it as a dog and it and the werewolf became a teeth snapping ball of matted black fur, the dog fighting to control the werewolf, the werewolf fighting to get to Lily.  
  
Lily watched in horror, perched on her elbows, her robes ripped and her hair uncharacteristically wild. The dog, though it was unusually large, could barely contain the werewolf, and suddenly a huge, gleaming stag appeared in the furore and skilfully pinning the werewolf down there was a moment of stillness, only Lily's ragged gasps and the panting of the werewolf and dog could be heard.  
  
Her mind returning, Lily grasped her wand and looked over to where she had last seen the boys.  
  
'James, Sirius!' She cried. As the stag looked over to her the weirdest sensation came over her. They can't have . It's not possible for school students . But then how .?  
  
Then the dog and the stag roughly dragged the werewolf around the Willow, out of Lily's sight. She knew she must be mad, but she scrambled to her feet and followed them round just in time to her the werewolf pushed into a hole, followed by the stag and the dog.  
  
The Willow covered the hole over and Lily stood stock still. A rat appeared near her feet and she watched as it grew slowly and steadily to become Peter.  
  
They stared at each other. 'Lily, d-don't tell anyone-' Peter began.  
  
'Don't tell anyone that there are four unregistered anamagi running around Hogwarts?! Who knows?! Dumbledore?! He's the smartest of the teachers, he must know!'  
  
'No one knows-'  
  
'Are you all insane?!' She finally lost it, throwing her hands into the air, looking so fearsome to Peter, he took a step back. She failed to notice James and Sirius appear. 'Do you realise how dangerous this situation is, how close I was to being killed! Tell me, Peter, what anamagi does Remus make? Is his mother even sick? Did you bring a werewolf into Hogwarts for FUN!!'  
  
James stepped forward and as she stopped to take a breath got his word in.  
  
'His mothers not sick. Of course we didn't bring a werewolf in for fun. Think about it, Lily.' He stared at her, dark brown eyes trained fixedly, testing her.  
  
Suddenly she got it. Shivers ran down her spine as she said it out loud.  
  
'Remus is a werewolf.'  
  
She couldn't speak as a huge lump had appeared in her throat. Remus. One of her closest friends. He had never seemed that close though, unlike Miranda and Winter, he always had had something to hide.  
  
'Oh no.' She gasped. Her feet suddenly gave way and she fell plum onto the ground. Sirius and James came forward and crouched beside her.  
  
'The teachers know he's a werewolf. But they don't know we're anamagi. Listen, Lily, they must not find out.' James said, still staring at her so intently she looked away.  
  
'We're careful, Lily, this has never happened before.' Sirius said, talking about the close call she just had.  
  
'I bet.' She breathed, still finding it difficult to breathe properly.  
  
'Lily, think about Remus. You know about werewolves, how painful it is. Think about how much we mean to him, as anamagi.' James tried to reason  
  
'James, this is insane and ridiculously dangerous.'  
  
'You know how hard it is for him.' James replied, his voice with that steely edge it had had with Severus. 'We will do anything to make sure our identities are protected.'  
  
Sirius put a hand on his sleeve a warning look in his eyes. Lily, at James' words, was suddenly furious.  
  
'How could you?! Of all things - to, to threaten me! Don't forget, I was Remus' friend too! All you care about, James Potter, is having your fun. I was almost killed and you threaten me!' She jumped up glaring at the two as they rose. Peter stepped even further back.  
  
'He didn't mean it like that, Lily, and we understand, we just want you to help us.' Sirius said hastily, putting a hand on her arm.  
  
She took a deep breath.  
  
'I can't do anything till I've talked to Remus.' She said resolutely, and suddenly feeling totally exhausted she turned to leave, but as an afterthought turned back to James.  
  
'I will never forgive you for what you said, James.' She said in a low voice. She nodded to Sirius and Peter, then strode off towards the castle.  
  
There was silence as they watched her, then James took his cloak out. Sirius, most unlike him, seemed thoughtful.  
  
'I think she's the type to hold a grudge, James. Why did you have to say that?'  
  
'To rile her, make her defensive about her friendship with Remus and less likely to fear him. I think it worked. She's strange though, anyone else would want run at the sight of him, she's willing to 'discuss the situation' with him.'  
  
He through the cloak over his shoulders and Peter and Sirius joined him under it.  
  
'She's brave, she managed a curse in the face of a werewolf.' Peter said, as they set off towards the castle, finished with their adventures for the night.  
  
'That's Lily. It takes near death to upset her and she probably figures if she sleeps on the disaster of finding out her friend is a werewolf she'll find an answer to the problem, like it's an exam.' James snorted. 'Give me a girl with a little life any day.' 


	2. Mudblood

Four Gryffindorians slept badly that night. Remus of course, didn't sleep. James, Sirius and Peter headed back to their rooms, where Sirius and James pretended to sleep well, but in reality couldn't. Peter dropped right off, little troubling his conscience. Lily, in the girls dormitory, surveyed the eight beds and climbed into her own, pulling the hangings around. She lay awake, listening to the snores of the other seven girls, feeling impossibly lonely, as she knew she could never tell her best friend, Winter, nor her other close friend, Marinda, a secret that affected her deeply.  
  
So, tears started slowly and quietly, and she buried her face into her pillow. The shocked from having almost being killed, from finding out Remus suffered so much and always would, overwhelming her. Eventually she fell into a disturbed tear stained sleep, dreaming of gaping salivating jaws and a boy with dark brown eyes, telling her to beware...  
  
She finally found him sitting in the corner of the library, bags shadowing his eyes and a thousand worries sitting on hunched shoulders. She took a seat opposite him, anxiously patting down a stray auburn curl. "Sirius said I would be able to find you here."  
  
He looked up, and a half hearted smile flickered across his face. "Hi, Lily."  
  
She stared down at her knees. "I should've guessed earlier. Always absent during the full moon... and I thought the boggart had been an orb! I feel like such a fool, a blind fool."  
  
His smile faded and a haunted look flickered across his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but she charged on, typical of the headstrong Lily.  
  
"And I was shocked! Imagine that! Shocked - when I followed Sirius, James and Peter to the Whomping Willow. I never imagined that someone I knew so well suffered so much." She finally looked up and stared earnestly at him, eyes glistening. "It's safe with me, don't worry. I know what a majority of the duffers in this school would do - and I hope you're still my friend -"  
  
"Of course-"  
  
He was cut off. Lily grinned and the tears melted away.  
  
"I have one important question - how did you do it? Anamagi?! That's an increadibly complicated process."  
  
He relaxed and sat back, ignoring his text books, a sense of relief flooding through him. "It began in first year, when James and Sirius first worked it out..."  
  
And they sat and talked for a long time that Sunday afternoon, leaving the library with a sense of companionship and connection unusual for a pair so young.  
  
That night, Lily patrolled the corridors and the Mauradors sat in a corner of the common room talking and laughing as if all was usual. When they finally got a moment to themselves, James and Sirius turned to Remus. "Everything seems to be okay. Is it?" James asked.  
  
Remus nodded and grinned. "Everything's A-OK. She thought it was pretty amazing actually, that you three became anamagi. She wouldn't stop going on about it."  
  
James, Sirius and Peter looked at each other, puffing up with pride. A compliment from the constantly top of the class, over-acheiving Lily was most unusual.  
  
"She seemed a little freaked out, last night. Especially when we told her Dumbledore didn't know." Peter said.  
  
"Give her a chance, she'd had a bit of a shock." Sirius said, happy that Lily was going to keep the secret safe.  
  
"How exactly did she find out?" Remus asked innocently. "She didn't say alot about what actually happened last night."  
  
James thought carefully for a moment. If Lily hadn't told him, then he assumed they shouldn't. He looked at Remus and for the first time marvelled at Lily's tact and intelligence. Who in their right mind would want to tell Remus that he almost killed one of his favourite people in the world.  
  
"She just saw from a distance." He said softly.  
  
Sirius saw the look on James' face and nodded slowly. Peter, as usual kept quiet.  
  
"James Potter!" The call came from the opposite end of the room. Lily was threading her way through the common room, a distinctly annoyed look on her face. "You know what time it is!"  
  
He rolled at his eyes, but making sure to do it out of her sight. She finally reached the group and took a seat next to Remus, sighing. "What a horrible night for patrolling. A group of first year Hufflepuff's stuck on the trick stairs for goodness knows how long and who should come across them, but Severous Snape! And he had to be absolutely impossible!"  
  
James stood up and ran a hand through his hair, all of which caused a group of fifth year girls to look his way and giggle. A mischevious look entered his eyes and caused Sirius to grin imperceptibly in anticipation, he, Remus and Peter knew that look all to well. "You never mentioned Snape was on patrol tonight."  
  
Lily was oblivious, grabbing a Potions text book from the table next to her and flicking through it. "Don't see why it should matter to you. He was being simply annoying. He insisted findelous was included in the Sleeping Brew, but I'm sure it isn't." She flicked through the book, muttering to herself and Sirius got up and edged away towards the portrait hole with James.  
  
Remus and Peter watched them head off. Remus sighed and said something about being exhausted and headed off to the boys dormitory.  
  
Lily, at his goodbye, looked up and a suspicious feeling came over her. "Peter. Where have James and Sirius gone?"  
  
Peter swallowed. Lily's tone had taken a steely edge, she was known for having a temper that killed. "Uh, you were reminding James that he was on patrol-"  
  
She shot to her feet. "How stupid of me! How stupid of him!" She stode out of the room, her hair streaming behind her, cheeks flaring, a picture of fury. Winding along corridors and down staircases she finally came to where she left Sirius and the Hufflepuffs to remind James that he was on duty and stopped suddenly short.  
  
Hanging periously from a bannister Snape was suspended only by the magic coming from James' wand. Sirius had picked up Snape's bag and was threatening to go through it with a demonic look in his eyes. James leaned against a wall, lazily pointing his wand at Snape, chuckling all the time.  
  
"We owe you one, Snapie. After narking to Pentium about last night and losing Gryffindor twenty points, you've just managed to annoy us. Considerably." Sirius was saying, shaking the bag a little. "I wonder if there's anything interesting in here? Love notes to Narcissa?"  
  
Lily took a deep breath and marched forward into view, snatching the bag from Sirius' hands. "It is not nice to go through other people's property - Sirius Black!"  
  
Snape jolted as James stood up and ran the customary hand through his hair. "Leave us alone Lily, this isn't your fight." He said, managing to keep his voice calm.  
  
Lily whirled around. "This isn't a fair fight, James! This is bullying!" She cried shrilly, then narrowing her eyes she lowered her tone and added a nasty edge to it. "You'd better put him down right now." She had no need to add a threat, simply whipping he wand out.  
  
James deliberated for a moment, then sat Snape roughly on the landing next to Lily. Severus stood up and instead of expressing gratefulness, snatched his bag from Lily's hand. "I don't want any help from you, Mudblood." He snarled, stalking away.  
  
Sirius frowned and clenched his fists in anger. James growled, his face contoring with anger, and lurched forwards, pointing his wand at Snape and muttering a quiet spell which caused the grasy haired Slytherin to trip up and fall sprawled at the top of the stairs.  
  
Lily continued to stare at James, he face red with fury. She had barely heared Snape, anyway, she was used to what she considered his pride and stupidity. "James Potter, if you cast a spell on one more fellow student I swear I will make sure you are expelled from this school." That being the worst threat Lily could think of.  
  
Sirius walked towards her, holding out a placating hand. "Come on, carrot top, it's not like he didn't deserve it."  
  
She only had to glare at him for a second to stop him advancing. "Potter, this is one time two many. We are at the end of our sixth year. You are a prefect. It seems you have not gained an ounce of maturity and it makes you the most immoral unacceptable role model that has ever been at Hogwarts!"  
  
James rolled his eyes This time blatently. "Hey, I'm not the one running around calling you a - a Mudblood and openly consorting with that Voldemort idiot like some seventh years we all know."  
  
"There is never any excuse for treating a fellow student like that - whoever it might be - and espcially when one is a prefect! Now get out of here, I'll finish your patrol." She snapped.  
  
James sighed. "Don't be stupid, you don't need-"  
  
"Yes I do." She cut him off stoutly. "You can't be trusted."  
  
James flushed. Generally he could keep his cool, but Lily Evans always knew exactly how to get to him.  
  
Sirius tugged at his robes, he knew Lily as the most stubborn girl he had ever met and knew James didn't stand a chance of arguing his way out of this one. The boys walked back to the Gryffindor common room and Lily, with a toss of her head went on her way.  
  
"She is disgustingly annoying." James snapped.  
  
"Hey, at least you don't have to patrol tonight We can see if that Hufflepuff dude wants to buy some Dungbombs - even at our inflated prices."  
  
The perfect distraction. James laughed. "It's great having a monopoly on these things, and poor stupid Hufflepuffians don't have a clue where their money's best spent."  
  
However James might pretend to be thinking of ripping off fellow students with smuggled in joke items, but he couldn't get rid of the image of a certain girls flashing green eyes and the feeling of inexplicable hatred and anger when Snape insulted her. And it frustrated him. 


End file.
